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Alex Norris is a man with a lot going on in his life. In the last three months, not only has he become the MP for Nottingham North, riding the national trend to hold onto the Graham Allen's former seat, but he's also got married.

Just nine days after hearing, in the bleary-eyed early hours of Friday June 9, that he had been elected, he married his now-wife Emma in her home town of Newcastle.

The decision to stand as an MP may have been a snap call in the chaos that was the short election, but his road into politics has been a lengthy one.

The 33-year-old Labour man had been a councillor for the past six years while working for a trade union, after studying politics and history at the University of Nottingham, and said there was never really a decision to make in terms of choosing which party to support.

He grew up in a working-class family in Altrincham, in Greater Manchester, and he and his older sister Catherine were raised by their mum, Carole, after their father died of cancer just before Alex's third birthday.

Growing up, politics wasn't discussed much, he says his 'incredibly proud' mum has had a lot to learn since he became MP, but he said from a young age he felt a sense of duty, and that he had to help people.

"Life was very difficult growing up, we weren't completely poor but life was difficult. That was a formative experience because I knew life was hard from an early stage.

"Mum worked multiple jobs to keep a roof over our head, so it's always been a big part of my motivation, to help people in similar situations.

"My life changed when I was 11 because I got a free place at a private school. But for every kid that happened to, there's hundreds that didn't get the chance, and even then it struck me that this was very unjust."

He said there was never a decision about which party to support: "I was always aware of this big difference between those that have those that haven't. I always just naturally identified with the Labour values of solidarity, of community, and of individuals looking out for those that have the least."

At this point in the interview, a member of the public interrupts to shake Alex's hand, and tells him that she voted for him, wishing him luck. With a broad smile and an almost boyish surprise, he thanks the woman warmly. The shock of becoming Nottingham North's MP has clearly not yet sunk in.

He said stepping foot in the House of Commons had set his pulse racing. "Of course it's an amazing experience, but it's not like you're there because you've won some sort of competition. Your neighbours have elected you to do a very serious job, they don't want someone just gawping at the situation, they want you to go in there and get on with it."

Re-iterating a point made in his maiden speech, he said tackling poverty would be his top priority while an MP. He said: "If you can tackle poverty, then all of the other problems that come from poverty go away.

"It has to start before the children are even born, making sure the parents have all the right tools. Then it's about having an excellent education, but at the moment kids are starting from behind.

A key tool in tackling poverty, Alex says, is the NHS, which has a special place in his heart: "My dad fought a six-year-battle with cancer on the NHS, and I was one of the first IVF babies, so the NHS has always been incredibly important to me, because without it I literally wouldn't exist.